Social trends to present a smorgasbord of stories - for release next Tuesday (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

May 29, 2003

Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)

55(b)/2003

Social trends to present a smorgasbord of stories - for release next Tuesday

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release the tenth edition of Australian Social Trends (cat. no. 4102.0) next Tuesday, June 3, 2003 at 11.30am (AEST).

Australian Social Trends 2003profiles Australian society and looks at changes in the nation's social conditions and well-being.

The publication features 30 articlescontaining new analysis of current ABS data, as well as data from other sources. The articles cover a range of topics related to population, family and community, health, education and training, work, economic resources, housing, crime, communications, and leisure. These provide an insight into the current nature of Australian society, and highlight changes over recent decades.

This year's edition has a rural and regional theme, with several articles presenting regional analysis for a range of social topics.

The publication is a source of a wide variety of stories on current and emerging issues of social interest. A full list and synopsis of the articles appears below.

A media release will be widely distributed at 11.30am (AEST) on June 3, 2003. Also at this time, articles and other content from the publication will be made available on this site within the "Australia Now" section.

Media please note that the hard copy publication will be boxed at the Canberra Press Gallery by request only.

The publication will also be available for collection on release day from our state offices in each capital city, again by request.

Australian Social Trends 2003: List of Contents

Population Chapter

Population characteristics and remoteness - uses the new ABS Remoteness classification to describe the distribution of the population across the Remoteness Areas of Australia, and explore selected population characteristics in relation to these areas, including demographic, family, and cultural background characteristics.Ancestry of Australia's population - reports on the leading ancestries of Australians, with a focus on Australian, British and Irish ancestries, post-war immigration factors, and some discussion of the links between ancestry, birthplace and religion.People in institutional settings - describes trends in the numbers of people in institutional settings on census night, such as disability and aged care institutions, welfare institutions, and prisons, and provides a demographic profile of people in these settings.

Youth migration within Australia - examines the mobility of young people within Australia, the impact this has on the age profiles of urban and rural areas, broad migration flows, and the characteristics of young people who move.

Family and Community Chapter

Changing families - examines change in the number and composition of Australian families between 1986 and 2001, and discusses a range of social trends related to these changes, for couple families with children, couple families without children, one-parent families, and other family and household types.

Balancing family and work - examines trends in the way Australian families balance the responsibilities of paid work and care of children, discussing the use of arrangements such as maternity/paternity leave, flexible working hours and child care.

Farming families - looks at trends in selected characteristics of farming families (e.g. age, income, hours of work, family type), and how farming families compare with other families, as well as issues relating to women in farming and the use of information technology by farming families.

Child protection - provides a brief overview of abuse-related hospitalisation and death among Australian children and of Australia's child protection system, including discussion of care and protection orders and out of home care. Also includes recent national figures on notifications and substantiated cases of neglect or abuse involving children and some discussion of selected characteristics such as family type and Indigenous status.

Services in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities - examines the access remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have to a range of services including water, electricity and sewerage supply, communications technology, health services and community infrastructure.

Health Chapter

Medical practitioners - examines long-term trends in doctor numbers, the personal characteristics and working arrangements of doctors, and differences in the numbers of doctors living in different areas of Australia.

Health risk factors among adults - discusses trends in three leading health risk factors: smoking, physical inactivity, and overweight and obesity, briefly commenting on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of people who have these risk factors, and the health conditions associated with them.

Injuries - presents data about the extent, type and effects of injuries experienced by Australians, and discusses some circumstances surrounding injury, such as the locations in which injuries occur.

Education and Training Chapter

Regional differences in education and outcomes - uses census data to compare the education and labour force outcomes for young people in different areas of Australia, including discussing school attendance and completion, educational qualifications, further study, and connections with youth migration patterns.

Pathways from school to work - summarises data and analysis from longitudinal surveys of Australian youth, which have followed the post-school experiences of successive groups of secondary students. The article discusses pathways taken in leaving school, after leaving school, and in undertaking higher education.

School teachers - discusses trends in student-teacher ratios, and changes in the demographic profile of teachers over the last 20 years, commenting on the locations in which teachers work, their educational qualifications, and working conditions.

Work-related training - analyses characteristics of work-related training courses completed by wage and salary earners, examining employee and employer characteristics, field of training, training costs and support, access to training and the outcomes of work-related training.

Work Chapter

Longer working hours - looks at trends in the working hours of full-time workers (including overtime) and explores workers' preferences, family working hours, and the characteristics of people who work very long hours.

Geographic distribution of unemployment - examines various social, demographic and labour market characteristics of small geographic areas, and describes some of the factors associated with relatively high and relatively low rates of unemployment.

Underutilised labour - describes key ABS measures of underutilised labour resources, focusing on those people who may not be classified as unemployed in ABS statistics, but who share some of the labour market characteristics of unemployed people, namely underemployed people and some of those marginally attached to the labour force (e.g. discouraged jobseekers).

Changes in labour force participation across generations - discusses how male and female labour force participation, the likelihood of working full-time or part-time, and the likelihood of working in services industries have changed over the 30 year period to 2001 for successive five-year age groups born between 1907 and 1981.

Multiple spells of looking for work - examines the demographic characteristics of people who experienced a number of spells of looking for work in a recent 12 month period, and their employment-related characteristics (e.g. length of time in the workforce and the types of jobs they were employed in at February 2001).

Economic resources Chapter

The geography of income distribution - examines differences in the level and distribution of income across remoteness areas in Australia - in terms of average weekly equivalised gross household income - as well as examining the effect direct housing costs have on people in low-income households.

Taxes and government benefits: the effect on household income - explores the re-distribution of disposable income between households in Australia by looking at the effects of selected benefits and taxes on households with different incomes and at different life-cycle stages.

Community services sector - looks at trends in the community services sector over the period 1995-96 to 1999-2000, including discussing the involvement of Not for profit, For profit and Government organisations in the sector.

Housing Chapter

First home buyers - discusses the age, life-cycle stage and income of recent first home buyers, as well as their housing choices and housing costs.

Changes in Australian housing - discusses various trends in Australian housing, including changes in the number of dwellings across Australia and the geographic distribution of these changes, changes in housing occupancy, in the life-cycle groups living in different dwelling types, and in the number of bedrooms in dwellings compared with household size.

Home ownership across Australia - uses 2001 Census data to compare home ownership rates across Australia, and to examine the age and income characteristics of households that owned their home.

Feature Articles Chapter

Crime victimisation and feelings of safety - discusses the incidence of selected crimes, characteristics of crime victims and places where crimes occur. Adults' feelings of safety in a variety of situations are also examined.